It's Show Day ...

and I am not too confident.  Frankly, I am a bit pissed.  RAAC?  Are you kidding me?  If Speedy and I break 60%, I'll be thrilled.  Grrr ...  So what's the problem?  Don't get me started!  Speedy G is AWESOME at a great many things.  He loves kids, he loves to walk, he loves to stand still, and he really loves to eat.  What he doesn't like to do is work.

He had a few days off due to the whack he gave himself last week, and he got a day off on Friday because of farrier work, but Saturday it was back to work.  I REALLY wanted to work on the canter transition so that it would be fresh in his mind for today's show.  I am so frustrated with him.  He WOULD NOT move forward.  He was so far behind the leg that I am not sure we were even in the same county.  I was literally KICKING his sides to get him to trot.  I am definitely bringing the dressage whip to the show.  It is impossible to establish any kind of connection if there is no rhythm or forward movement.

Literally, this is how it went:

Me ... leg on and thinking trooot ... harder leg ... harder leg ...
Speedy G ... ears pinned ... head WAAAY behind the vertical ...
Me ... HARDER LEG ... HARDER LEG
Speedy G ... nooooooo
Me ... H A R D E R    L E G
Speedy G ... kind of trotting
Me ... HARDER LEG ... Taller posting ... squeezing on the upbeat
Speedy G ... even more behind the vertical ... nearly bucking

This went on for at least 30 minutes.  This is not a saddle fit issue, he is not hurting, he is not confused about what I am asking for ... he just flat out doesn't want to do it.

I finally got him moving forward enough to ask for canter transitions.  I asked for the canter ... nothing ... I asked again ... nothing.  I finally had to KICK him HARD with my outside leg.  It wasn't pretty, but he finally gave me something.  And then we trot and did it again, and again, and again.  I kept asking for that canter transition until he did it with just a softish aid.

This is extremely frustrating because last week when we worked on this, he was soft, round, and jumping into the canter with a nice push from his hind end.  He can do it, he just doesn't want to.

Soooo ... we're off to the show anyway.